[Solved] How to Fix DaVinci Resolve Doesn't Handle AVCHD .MTS Files

"DaVinci doesn't "see" all .mts-clips (avchd) -- To my question: I have recorded a theater performance. There are six .mts files on the SD card. DaVinci can only recognize four in the media manager. The others can not be imported (with my knowledge). A second camera has the same effect. Technically, all clips are identical. (1920x1080p, 25fps)." -- From forum.blackmagicdesign.com

Many modern video cameras output in the AVCHD format, which creates MTS/M2TS files and you may need to import into DaVinci Resolve to edit together and work on as you desire. Although the file format is standard, you may sometimes can't import .mts files to DaVinci Resolve due to some unknown problems. To resolve this issue, the simple workaround is to transcode .mts files before bringing them into Resolve. Here is the simple how-to.

100% Working Solution to Fix "Can't Import MTS File to DaVinci Resolve" Error
-- Convert MTS to DaVinci Resolve supported MOV H.264, MP4, ProRes or DNxHD codec

The DaVinci Resolve MTS file import failure may be caused by DaVinci Resolve version, the MTS file codec, the MTS file frame rate, the MTS file size, or your computer process etc. And it's hard to figure out the exact reason for your failure without obtaining more knowledge from you. Then, transcoding MTS files becomes a highly recommended method, especially if your MTS files are in high-bitrates/framerates and you don't have a high-end computer.

MTS videos are already highly compressed by H.264 codec, which are very hard to deal with during video editing. So, it's not a bad idea to convert MTS to a lossless codec like ProRes, DNxHD or a more more popular format like H.264 MP4, MOV. To do this, you can adopt EaseFab Video Converter for help.

This program makes an easy work of converting MTS videos to DaVinci Resolve supported MOV H264, MP4, MPEG-4, DNxHD, ProRes, AVI, AVCHD, etc. formats so as to fix AVCHD MTS codec incompatibility issues. As for the video quality, don't worry too much. With the constantly updated conversion algorithm and the advanced high quality technology, it guarantees you the output video with up to 98% quality reserved, wrinkles or freckles in image still clear enough to count.

Codec correction (or conversion) is just the tip of the iceberg that it can handle. In terms of the compute-intensive 4K files, it's also a decent performer, letting you downscale 4K to 1080p, lower 60FPS to 30FPS, adjust bit rate, etc. to better suit your computer hardware configurations and to ensure a smooth MTS file importing and latter editing.

Tutorial: How to decode MTS to DaVinci Resolve supported codec/format?

PS: The step-by-step guide is almost the same on PC and Mac. Here we will take EaseFab Video Converter for Windows as the example.

Step 1. Download and launch EaseFab Video Converter on Windows PC or Mac. Click Add Video button to import your AVCHD MTS/M2TS video files. Dragging and droppping works too. (Note: batch conversion is supported, so you can several mov videos to the program to convert at a time.)

Step 2. Click Profile pull down list, move mouse cursor to Editing Software. To encode the incompatible MP4 video for editing in DaVinci Resolve, you can select MOV (encoded by H.264 codec), DNxHD 720P, DNxHD 1080p or Final Cut Pro X (codec: Apple ProRes) as the output profile.

Important Note: The output H.264 MOV files can preserve image quality with the smallest file size. The DNxHD and ProRes files can preserve the best image quality and provide better performance when editing in DaVinci Resolve Please not that ProRes files typically need ten times as much storage of H.264-based files.

Step 3. You can cut, crop, merge, rotate, etc. to make some easy video edits in a linear manner with EaseFab Video Converter. You can also click Settings button to adjust the codec, resolution, frame rate, bitrate, etc.

Step 4. Hit Convert and it will begin fast video decoding, conversion and processing your MTS video at one go.

After the conversion is complete, get the resulted files via clicking the Open button and then you can import the result files to DaVinci Resolve 16 or lower version without any trouble.

Other 2 Possible Solutions to Solve DaVinci Resolve Doesn't Import Certain MTS AVCHD Clips

Possible Solution 1: Upgrade DaVinci Resolve from old version to the newest version.

The MTS file import failure may be caused by an old version of DaVinci Resolve. You can try to upgrade it to a newer version to see if that improves the behavior.

Possible Solution 2: Upgrade your Computer Hardware

After upgrading the DaVinci Resolve on your PC, if you are still stuck by the DaVinci Resolve MTS file importing issues, consider upgrading your hardware then.